Hollywood actor Robert Wagner is not a suspect in the reopened investigation into the death of his wife, actress Natalie Wood, in 1981, LA county sheriffs say. The captain of the boat that Wood, a major movie star at the time, mysteriously vanished from in 1981 is now blaming veteran actor Wagner for her death. Homicide Bureau Lt. John Corina shed little light on what sparked the new probe into the Oscar-nominated actress's drowning near Catalina Island off the California coast in 1981.At the time, police said Wood, 43, accidentally fell overboard and drowned. Now the boat's captain, Dennis Davern, is telling something of a different story. In the best-selling Pieces of my Heart, Wagner offered his account of the fateful night that Wood went missing, confessing his own feelings of guilt involving her untimely death.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department told a news conference his office had "received information which we felt was substantial enough to take another look at this case", but that Ms Wood's husband was not involved. But, he said, her Thanksgiving weekend death while boating with Wagner and actor Christopher Walken on the couple's yacht is still considered an accident, as the original inquiry concluded.
Robert Wagner has only released a statement since the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department has reopened the case surrounding the death of his late wife. On the Today Show Friday, Davern even went so far as to say that Wagner, now 81, was "responsible" for Wood's death.
The police said that, "We have several sources coming forward with additional information and we have found it credible enough to take another look at the case." Davern told NBC's "Today" show on Friday that he made mistakes by not telling the truth about events leading to the death and had urged Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide investigators to reopen the case.
